‘Match Point’ Download and Reviews
“Match Point” Movie Details
Match Point tagline: Passion Temptation Obsession
 Match Point DVD Cover |
Actors:
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John the Chauffeur |
“Match Point” Movie Review
“Match Point” Plot Summary
At a turning point in his life, a former tennis pro falls for a femme-fatal type who happens to be dating his friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law. add synopsis
The Talented Mr. Allen: Woody’s best film since ‘Crimes & Misdemeanors’
MATCH POINT (2005) ***1/2 Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton, Margaret Tyzack, Ewen Bremner, James Nesbitt. The Talented Mr. Allen: Woody’s best film since ‘Crimes & Misdemeanors’Woody Allen has been a respected filmmaker for over thirty years and in recent memory has been in something of a slump with his trademark New York neurotic comedies of late and it has been well over a decade since he attempted anything resembling a drama (his last was a combination of comedy/ drama for his masterpiece ‘Crimes & Misdemeanors’ in 1989) and in his latest stab at it comes through remarkably with his best film in sometime
Jettisoning his usual choice of his beloved Manhattan The Woodman jaunts across The Big Pond and sets his story in London (not the first European adventure mind you – he did go to Paris for ‘Everyone Says I Love You’) with the plot focusing on a borderline callow young tennis player cum pro, Chris Wilton (Rhys-Meyers giving Jude Law a run for the money as sexiest Brit on screen) whose philosophy for life is being lucky rather than being good or great at something. This proves to be his one flaw as he obtains a job as an instructor for a supremely private resort club where he befriends one of his charges, Tom Hewett (Goode), whose shared love for opera has him inviting the unassuming Chris to a performance where his family has a box seat reserved. Here he meets the rest of Tom’s family: respected businessman Alec (the ubiquitous Cox), tipsy mum Eleanor (Wilton) and engaging sister Chloe (the wonderfully sublime Mortimer) who falls deeply head over heels in love with Chris almost immediately. Chris too finds himself in love with Chloe and before you know it is taken in by the wealthy clan as one of the family
As the story progresses Chris finds this sudden shift in his life moving along nicely and to his agreement accruing a position in one of Alec’s many business ventures as an apprentice seller and weekends at the sprawling estate of the Hewetts. It is there he also meets Tom’s gorgeous American fiancee, Nola Rice (Johansson giving one of her better performances to date), a fledgling actress who beguiles Chris immediately and he is smitten by her, intoxicated by her very presence that the two wind up in a countryside embrace leading to a moment of unbridled passion. While Nola makes light of giving in to their primal desires as a lack of clarity on her behalf, Chris cannot get enough of her; Nola explains this desire is temporary and that she is getting married to Tom; end of story
Chris tries to do what’s right and eventually marries the unsuspecting Chloe and absorbs himself in work until one day while playing a set with Tom he is informed that Tom has dumped Nola and is in love with another unknown woman. The fire is re-ignited in Chris’ soul and the determination heightened as he becomes infatuated in finding Nola again to seduce her once and for all. Allen allows his talented class plenty of room to act up a storm but not overact the seemingly straight-forward melodrama at hand but what makes it rise above the norm is the way his leads make their seemingly unsympathetic characters empathetic. Rhys-Meyers remains cool as a cucumber until the predictable complication ensures his affair with Johansson will lead to an unlikely scenario that borders ridiculous mystery theater affair however maintains a balance of dread in when the couple will come to a head. Johansson mixes the smoky cadence of her Kathleen Turner-like vocals into a come-hither-insouciance not before experienced and has the tricky task of making her Nola’s head case come to fruition with believability; she succeeds succinctly
Allen’s screenplay is literate, clever and crafty and at once familiar with a few of his trademark quips tossed in with elan that his upper crust characters make the most of what they can with a dry bright witticism here and there. The storyline flows evenly amidst its choppy third act that feels a tad rushed yet when the darkness comes it echoes ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ which it has a lot in common with but never trespasses entirely. This is Allen’s most adult film in sometime and not to besmirch it perhaps his most challenging one to date. Thank God Woody is back in fine form, not unlike an old tennis pro on the senior’s tour with a wicked backhand.
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‘GoldenEye’ Download and Reviews
“GoldenEye” Movie Details
GoldenEye tagline: You know the name. You know the number.
 GoldenEye DVD Cover |
Actors:
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Severnaya duty officer |
“GoldenEye” Movie Review
“GoldenEye” Plot Summary
James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent believed to be dead. add synopsis
Excellent Bond film and Brosnan’s best outing
Six years passed between the release of ‘Licence to Kill’ and ‘GoldenEye’, Pierce Brosnan’s debut as Bond, and those six years were clearly beneficial to the franchise. ‘GoldenEye’ has its fair share of flaws, but it feels revitalized and fresh, unlike the film it follows, ‘Licence to Kill’, a lethargic offering that was deservedly the lowest grossing Bond film when adjusted for inflation. ‘GoldenEye’ makes a clean break from previous franchise films, becoming self-aware for the first time and taking on an almost revisionist feel by casting Judi Dench as M and having her call Bond a ’sexist, misogynist dinosaur’. Even the Bond girls are in no way dependent on Bond- if you count the villain she was clearly the uh… ‘dominant’ half of that relationship, and even the ‘good’ girl bossed Bond around. In a way this is refreshing to see, and Brosnan fits the part excellently, never losing his composure, always with a witty one-liner to throw back. The main reason I like Brosnan a lot better than Moore is that he doesn’t take the ‘class’ act too far. He’s classy, charming, witty, but also cruel and ruthless when he needs to be. I don’t see the validity of the claims that he was the wimpiest Bond; he’s got far more physicality than Moore and a much harder edge, generally speaking. ‘GoldenEye’ does have its flaws, of course. The film could have been a whole 20 minutes shorter, the musical score is not one of the best of the franchise (but not nearly as bad as some suggest), and the humor, outside of Brosnan’s one-liners, falls flat most of the time. I’m also not sure about the huge emphasis on technology, which is taken too far at times here, and would be taken even farther into the land of the completely ridiculous later in the series. Then again, it was the mid-90’s and technology was a hot topic. The film handles its subject matter well for the most part. The film’s action set-pieces are terrific and the sets look beautiful. One of the things that impressed me most about ‘GoldenEye’ is that when it went for drama it succeeded reasonably well. Sean Bean and Famke Janssen make a terrific team of villains and Martin Campbell keeps the film moving at a swift pace, drastically improving on John Glen’s work in ‘Licence to Kill’.'GoldenEye’ may not be the best Bond film, but it’s a welcome addition to the series. Brosnan is not as good a Bond as Connery at his best, but he’s on par with Lazenby and Dalton, if not better, and most certainly better than Roger Moore. 20 minutes shorter and ‘GoldenEye’ could have been an absolute classic, but as it is it’s an excellent Bond offering and one of the better Bond films. The title song is terrific, isn’t it?8/10
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